In the Old Man's Wake

THE SNIPE’S LONGEVITY IS A NOD TO THOSE WHO BUILT AND CONTINUE TO INVEST IN ITS FUTURE

- Dave Powlison

It's early April on Miami's Biscayne Bay, with an 18-knot easterly, gnarly chop and ribbons of sargassum seaweed-tough fare for racing any boat. We're at the 2023 Don Q Snipe Regatta, heading uphill and racing against competitors with decades of experience in the class, as well as a slew of young hotshots and some first-timers-40 teams in all. It's baptism by fire, my first real experience racing a Snipe. And like many who jump into the boat for the first time, I'm being served heaps of humble pie. About the only time my crew, Danielle Wiletsky, and I see the top of the fleet is when we cross paths on opposite legs of the course.

The upside is that we have a ringside seat to their techniques. At one point, we watch as the eventual regatta-winning team of Ernesto Rodriguez and Kathleen Tocke round the weather mark. He hands her the tiller extension and mainsheet, slides back to clear weeds off the rudder, then takes over again. Blink and we'll miss it.

"It's something we've practiced," Rodriguez tells me afterward.

Then it's back to the business of riding waves, Tocke at times with her face almost at the headstay when going down waves, then rapidly sliding aft as the ride nears its end. It's the product of years of muscle memory, and Tocke and Rodriguez are clearly in sync. Tocke, who first sailed the Snipe in 2008, says they don't talk much on their boat. "Occasionally, he'll tell me to hike harder," she adds, "not because I'm not, but more as encouragement."

Soon they're a speck on the horizon as we plod our way upwind to the mark.